Session Recording Reports

Session Recording Reports



Session Recording reports provide a detailed, session-level view of how visitors interact with your website. Each recording captures a complete user journey, from entry to exit including clicks, scrolls, navigation paths, and goal completions. Unlike aggregated reports, session recordings help you understand why users behave a certain way, making it easier to identify friction points, usability issues, and conversion barriers.

Recording List Overview

When you open a session recording experiment, you will see a list of captured sessions along with key details about each visitor and their interaction. This list acts as the starting point for analyzing user behavior.


Metrics in Recording List :
Visitor
Duration
Goals
Device
Operating System
Flag Recording
Share
Date Created
Browser
Country
Visitor
Each session is associated with a unique visitor identifier.
  • Visitors are anonymized by default
  • A single session represents continuous activity within a time frame
  • If a visitor is inactive for a longer duration, a new session may be recorded

Duration
Represents the total time a visitor spent during the session.
  • Helps identify highly engaged sessions
  • Short durations may indicate quick exits or lack of interest

Goals
Displays the number of goals completed within that session.
  • Helps identify sessions that contributed to conversions
  • Useful for comparing successful vs unsuccessful user journeys

Device
Indicates the device category used:
  • Desktop
  • Mobile
  • Tablet
This helps analyze behavior differences across devices.

Operating System
Shows the OS used during the session
Example :
  1. Windows
  2. iOS
  3. Android
Browser
  1. Displays the browser used by the visitor.
  2. This is useful for identifying browser-specific issues.


Country
  1. Indicates the geographic location of the visitor.
  2. Helps understand regional behavior patterns.

Date Created
  1. Shows when the session was recorded.
  2. Useful for analyzing behavior within a specific timeframe.

Flag Recording
Allows you to mark important sessions for quick access later.

Share
Enables you to generate a shareable link to collaborate with your team.


Playback and Session Analysis

Click any recording to open the session playback view and observe user behavior in detail.

Timeline and Navigation Flow
The timeline visually represents the user’s journey through your website.
  • Shows the sequence of pages visited
  • Highlights navigation flow between pages
  • Allows you to jump to specific points in the session
This helps you understand how users move across your website.

Playback Controls
You can control how recordings are viewed:
  • Play or pause the session
  • Adjust playback speed for faster review
  • Skip inactive periods to focus on actions
  • Navigate to specific timestamps

Goal Indicators
Goals completed during the session are marked on the timeline.
  • Helps identify when conversions happen
  • Useful for analyzing behavior leading up to goal completion

Session Details Panel

The session view includes a detailed panel with additional information about the visitor and their activity.

Visitor Information
Provides contextual details such as:
  • Date and time of the session
  • Geographic location (city/country)
  • Device, browser, and OS
  • Screen resolution
This helps you understand the environment in which users interact with your website.

Traffic Source
Indicates how the visitor arrived on your website.
Examples include:
  • Direct visit
  • Search engine
  • Campaign or referral

Events
Lists the key actions performed during the session.
These may include:
  • Click interactions
  • Page navigation
  • Goal completions
This helps you track user activity step by step.

Tags
Tags help you organize session recordings by grouping visitors based on specific actions or behaviors. This makes it easier to filter recordings and revisit specific visitor sessions later.
For example, you can tag recordings for actions such as cart abandonment, failed signups, or CTA clicks.

Add Tags Manually
  1. Open your session recording experiment and go to the Recordings tab.
  2. Select the recording you want to review.
  3. In the recording playback window, open the Tags section in the right panel.
  4. Enter the tag name and press Enter.
The tag will be added to the recording.

Add Tags Automatically
You can automatically tag recordings by adding the following code to your website event logic:
  1. window.pagesense = window.pagesense || [];
  2. window.pagesense.push(['tagRecording', '<tag-name>']);
Replace <tag-name> with your preferred tag name.
Once the event is triggered, the recording will automatically be tagged.

Use Tags for Filtering
After tags are added, you can use them as filters to quickly find recordings with similar visitor behaviors.


Filter and Segment Recordings

The Segment Audience option allows you to filter recordings based on predefined or custom conditions.


Smart Segmentation
Advanced Segmentation
Smart Segmentation
Smart segmentation provides quick, ready-to-use filters based on common visitor attributes.
You can easily narrow down recordings using options such as:
  • Device type (Desktop, Mobile, Tablet)
  • Traffic source (Direct, Organic, Paid, Referral, Social)
  • Visitor type (New or Returning users)
  • Location (Country or region)
This is useful when you want to quickly analyze behavior for standard audience groups without creating custom rules.

Advanced Segmentation
Advanced segmentation allows you to create highly specific audience filters using custom conditions.
You can define rules based on:
  • Visitor attributes (device, browser, OS, location)
  • Session behavior (duration, pages visited)
  • Traffic details (source, campaign)
  • Goals (achieved or not achieved)
  • Tags applied to recordings

Creating Advanced Conditions

You can build conditions using:
  • Segments – The attribute you want to filter (e.g., Device, Country, Browser)
  • Modifiers – The condition type (equals, not equals, contains, does not contain, regex)
  • Values – The specific value to match (e.g., Mobile, India, Chrome)
Additional Options
  • Add New Condition
    Create multiple conditions to refine your filter
  • Add New Group
    Combine multiple conditions using logical grouping (AND/OR logic)
This allows you to create highly targeted segments such as:
  • Mobile users from a specific country who did not complete a goal
  • Returning visitors with high session duration
  • Users who dropped off after visiting a specific page

Identify Visitors Using Identifier API

By default, session recordings show visitors as anonymous users. To identify users, you need to use the PageSense Visitor Identifier API. 

Info
Implementing the Identifier API code on your site will also replace the random visitor names displayed in your Pop-up experiment report.
API to Use
Use the following PageSense JavaScript API:
  1. window.pagesense = window.pagesense || [];
    window.pagesense.push(['identifyUser', '<name>']);
This is the exact API method used to assign a unique identifier to a visitor.

What to Pass as Identifier
The value you pass should uniquely represent a user in your system.
Common examples include:
  • Email address
  • User ID
  • Username

Example Implementations
Using Email
  1. window.pagesense = window.pagesense || [];
  2. window.pagesense.push(['identifyUser', 'user@example.com']);
Using User ID
  1. window.pagesense = window.pagesense || [];
  2. window.pagesense.push(['identifyUser', 'USER_10245']);
Using Dynamic Value (Recommended)
  1. window.pagesense = window.pagesense || [];
  2. window.pagesense.push(['identifyUser', user.id]);
Here, user.id is dynamically fetched from your application and helps consistently identify users across sessions.

Where to Add This API
You should place this code in your website where user identity is available.
Recommended locations:
  • After user login
  • On authenticated pages
  • When user data is loaded (e.g., from session or backend)
This ensures the correct user is associated with the session.

How It Works
  • When the API is executed, PageSense assigns the identifier to that visitor session
  • The anonymous ID is replaced with the provided identifier
  • All subsequent interactions in that session are linked to this user

How It Appears in Reports
Once implemented:
  • The identifier appears in the Visitor column
  • You can search recordings using this value
  • Sessions from the same user can be easily identified and analyzed

Info

Ensure session recordings are configured to avoid capturing sensitive or personally identifiable information, and always obtain user consent where required by regulations like GDPR and HIPAA.
Use masking, pseudonymous identifiers, and secure access controls to protect user data while analyzing behavior.

Important Notes

  • Call the API only after the user is identified
  • Ensure the identifier is consistent and unique
  • Avoid sending highly sensitive data unless required
  • The identifier applies from the point it is set (not retroactively)
  • Mask all sensitive elements and inputs




We’ve designed this documentation to guide you every step of the way. If you need further assistance or have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at support@zohopagesense.com - we’re always here to help!